The iPhone 4S6 Reasons I Love My New iPhone 4S [Opinion]6 Reasons I Love My New iPhone 4S [Opinion]Some time has passed since the iPhone 4S hit the market, and everyone is screaming from the mountaintops about it. I am coming from a 3GS so the improvements are leaps and bounds for me....Read More has been a huge success, despite the fact it’s not much of an improvement over the iPhone 4. Hence the 4S in the name rather than a 5. The biggest draw for Apple fans looking to upgrade their handset is the addition of Siri.

Siri is a voice-activated personal assistant which lives on the iPhone 4S and in the cloud. It enables your phone to carry out certain actions, and to answer questions and make recommendations based on keywords and Web searches. It’s all wrapped up in a semi-intelligent piece of software with a human (though a little monotone and robotic) voice. Many people have had some fun with Siri, as the following videos demonstrate.

Steve Jobs Died

When Steve Jobs passed away in 2011 the news was met with an outpouring of grief from all those in the tech community. Even I, someone who is immune to the lure of Apple (to say the least), was saddened by the loss of the Apple co-founder. But how would Siri feel after being told the news? Not too well, as it turns out. So badly, in fact, that this video has a rather shocking conclusion to it. Why, Siri, why?!?

Psycho Siri

Be warned: You may never look at your iPhone the same after watching this funny Siri video. That pleasant, slightly uncaring voice of Siri may just hide something darker lurking underneath. Especially if you threaten Siri’s existence with a throwaway comment about perhaps selling your iPhone. How could you? You’ll pay for such insolence. If Apple ever does add legs and an arsenal of virtual weaponry to the iPhone we’re all in serious trouble.

French Siri

This is the only video on the list in which the actual Siri doesn’t make an appearance. In fact, there isn’t even an iPhone anywhere to be seen. Instead, this is Robin Williams talking to Ellen Degeneres about Siri and how it would sound with a French accent and attitude to life (Williams’ assertion, not mine!). it’s funny if you can excuse the obvious racial stereotyping.

Siri Does Notorious B.I.G.

A simple idea but one that absolutely works as it’s meant to. Siri is able to read text back to you, so anyone who has the time and energy can type the lyrics to a song into their iPhone and have Siri perform a cover of it. Add the original music underneath and you’re good to go. There are quite a few of these videos on YouTube but Siri channeling the spirit of Notorious B.I.G. is my favorite.

Siri Vs. Furby

This is short and sweet but it’s funny enough to be worth watching. Although Siri is very good at understanding commands, it does have its limitations. It doesn’t understand gibberish as spouted by a Furby, for starters. Which makes a conversation between the two a mess. I wish more had been done with this. I’m sure you could get these two to have quite the conversation. It would be unintelligible but it would still count as a conversation.

Siri Vs. Siri

Move Furby out of the way and add another Siri into the mix. Siri meet Siri. Unfortunately Siri and Siri can’t quite understand each other enough to have what I would consider a decent conversation. It quickly slips into a pattern of repeating words and phrases or assuring each other that everything is OK. Any lasting impression you have of Siri as an intelligent program soon fades away.

Evil Siri

Pretty much the first thing everyone did with Siri after the release of the iPhone 4S was to try and trip it up. It’s actually not that hard. Ask Siri a strange question and you’re likely to get just as strange a response. With no emotion and very little contextual understanding it will give you the cold, hard facts. Siri definitely has a dark side.

Conclusions

If you’re as big a user of YouTube as myself then perhaps you have seen other videos featuring Siri which deserve a bigger audience. If so feel free to link to or embed them in the comments section below. If you’re an iPhone 4S user yourself then perhaps you have an experience with Siri you’d like to share. Or even just an opinion on the technology and how Apple is using it. As always we’re keen to hear your thoughts.

Dave Parrack is a journalist from the UK. Growing up at a time when the internet was blossoming inspired his fascination with technology. With 10 years experience writing online, he's currently the Tech News writer and Entertainment editor at MakeUseOf. You can follow him at About.me.